JP7546493B2 - Information processing device, software creation support system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to technology that assists users in creating software.

With the development of network and sensing technologies, data collection using IoT devices is progressing. In recent years, data collected through data collection systems is analyzed by specialized engineers who are knowledgeable in data analysis, known as data scientists.

Building such a data collection system requires a high level of programming expertise. For example, a source program is written in a programming language such as C, C++, or JAVA (registered trademark), and then compiled with a compiler to create a machine language program that can be executed by a computer. There are also programming languages such as JAVASCRIPT that do not require compiling.

The data required differs depending on the purpose and method of data analysis, so it is conceivable that multiple data collection systems will be required. However, creating a system requires effort and man-hours, so there are concerns that a data collection system may not be available when needed, and that it will take a long time.

The following Patent Document 1 discloses a method for providing a data collection system that requires little effort in program development and allows programs to be easily created without requiring advanced knowledge.

Patent No. 4568262

The technology described in Patent Document 1 enables users to generate data collection programs, table generation programs, and table access programs without requiring advanced program design techniques or knowledge, and without directly inputting source code. However, due to its simplicity, there is a possibility that an ineffective data collection system will be created. In general, in software development, reusing existing components is considered effective for efficient development, but this presupposes that the user has advanced program design techniques and knowledge. Therefore, if a data collection system is created easily by reusing components, there is a possibility that a data collection system will be created that is not necessarily useful in terms of collection efficiency, collection items, etc.

Furthermore, if data analysts do not know what kind of data the created system is collecting, they may not be able to find the system they are looking for. However, it is difficult to understand this information for all systems. Therefore, there is a need for a mechanism that can assist users in creating software.

The present invention was made in consideration of the above circumstances, and aims to help users create software even if they do not have specialized knowledge.

The information processing device according to the present invention stores software attribute information and usage history in association with each other, searches for attribute information of software desired by the user, and outputs the information together with the usage history.

The information processing device according to the present invention allows a user to easily find software that meets the user's needs and has a proven track record, even if the user does not have specialized knowledge. This helps the user to create useful software, even if the user does not have specialized knowledge about software development.

1 is an overall configuration diagram of a software creation support system 1 according to a first embodiment. 4 shows an example of a data table held in the management database 120. 13 is an example of a software registration screen used to register software information. 10 is a flowchart showing a procedure in which the management device 140 registers software information. 11 is a flowchart showing a procedure in which the management device 140 creates and registers a search index. 13 is an example of a usage history registration screen used to register the usage history of software. 13 is an example of a creation instruction screen on which a user instructs the software creation support system 1 to create software. FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram showing a procedure for supporting software creation. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a search process performed by a search device 150. FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram showing another procedure for supporting software creation. 13 shows an example of a management screen displayed on the terminal 200. 10 is a flowchart showing a procedure for creating software by creating device 300. FIG. 11 is a configuration diagram of a software creation support system 1 according to a second embodiment. FIG. 11 is a configuration diagram of a software creation support system 1 according to a third embodiment.

<First embodiment>
1 is an overall configuration diagram of a software creation support system 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The software creation support system 1 is a system that supports a user in creating software (hereinafter, may be referred to as an application). In this example, a data collection system used by a user to collect various data is taken as an example of the software created by the user.

The software creation support system 1 generally comprises an information processing device 100, a terminal 200, a creation device 300, and a template database 310. The data collection system 400 is a system that executes data collection software created by the software creation support system 1. Two data collection systems 400a and 400b are shown in FIG. 1. These systems have the same configuration, so the alphabetical suffixes are omitted when there is no need to distinguish between them.

The information processing device 100 is communicably connected to the terminal 200, the creation device 300, and the data collection system 400 via an appropriate network 10. The information processing device 100 is the executing entity that supports and manages the creation of software. The creation device 300 is the executing entity that creates the data collection system 400.

In terminal 200, a user (e.g., a person who plans to use the created software) inputs attribute information for the software to be created. Information processing device 100 accepts the input and processes it as described below. Terminal 200 is a computer terminal such as a PC (Personal Computer), tablet terminal, smartphone, or mobile phone, which allows an operator to view and operate information provided by display/input device 110, which will be described later.

The information processing device 100 searches for attribute information of previously developed software stored in the management database 120 and presents it to the user, encouraging the user to reuse the previously developed software, and then instructs the creation device 300 to distribute the software.

The creation device 300 is a server device that generates and provides software based on attribute information of the software transferred from the information processing device 100. The creation device 300 provides functions for executing various types of software, such as virtualized software functions, platform functions, and hardware functions, and provides software and services. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the creation device 300 executes platform functions for executing various types of software, such as a virtualized web server, software server, and database server, and the software that is executed thereon.

The information processing device 100 comprises a display/input device 110, a performance collection device 130, a management device 140, a search device 150, and an execution device 160. Each of these devices can be implemented as hardware, or can be implemented by a computing device executing a program provided in the information processing device 100. For ease of description, these will be referred to as "devices" below, but their implementation is not limited to hardware.

The display/input device 110 provides the terminal 200 with an input/output interface such as a GUI (Graphical User Interface), an API (Application Programming Interface), or a CLI (Command Line Interface). Through this interface, the display/input device 110 accepts input/output operations related to settings for creating software and search keywords for searching the created software. The terminal 200 allows the user to view and operate information through the interface provided by the display/input device 110.

The performance collection device 130 collects the usage history of software and components based on the settings for collecting the usage history of software and components input from the terminal 200.

The management device 140 has the following functions: (a) a function for newly registering software attribute information in the management database 120 based on settings input from the terminal 200; (b) a function for newly registering software and component usage records in the management database 120 based on information collected by the performance collection device 130 and information input from the terminal 200; and (c) a function for displaying information on software and components created via the terminal 200.

The search device 150 has the following functions: (a) a function for searching the management database 120 for suitable software (or components constituting the software) based on search keywords that specify the search target and settings for creating the software input from the terminal 200; and (b) a function for, when multiple software or component candidates are identified as a result of the search, identifying the software or component with the highest suitability ranking from among the multiple candidates. The suitability ranking can be determined by referring to the software usage history table 520 or the component usage history table 540 (described below) in the management database 120.

The execution device 160 instructs the creation device 300 (described below) to deploy the software based on the settings input from the terminal 200.

The hardware configuration of the information processing device 100 includes: (a) a storage device configured with suitable non-volatile storage elements such as an SSD (Solid State Drive) or a hard disk drive; (b) a memory configured with volatile storage elements such as a RAM; (c) a calculation device such as a CPU that reads out and executes programs stored in the storage device into the memory, thereby controlling the device itself and carrying out various judgments, calculations, and control processes; (d) an output device such as a display that displays processed data; and (e) a communication device that is connected to the network 10 and handles communication processes with other devices.

The creation device 300 generates data collection software based on the settings input from the terminal 200. The data collection software is software for displaying data collection contents on the mobile terminal 420 and accepting collection results. The creation device 300 provides the data collection software to the mobile terminal 420 via the network 10. The creation device 300 further creates a data lake generation program and data management software. The data lake generation program is a program for creating a data lake for receiving and storing collection results from the mobile terminal 420 via the network 10. The data management software has a management function for extracting data from the data lake and providing it to the user as appropriate. The creation device 300 provides the data lake generation program and data management software to the data management device 410 via the network 10. The data collection worker can view the collected data on the mobile terminal 420 by executing the data collection software. The collected data is collected by the data management device 410 via the network 10.

The mobile terminal 420 is a portable device such as a personal computer, a smartphone, or a tablet terminal device. More specifically, the mobile terminal 420 is carried by the data collector when collecting data, and is used to collect data based on the data collection content displayed by executing the data collection software and to transmit the data to the data management device 410. The data collector takes a picture of the target object using the camera of the mobile terminal 420, records the sound of the target object using the microphone of the mobile terminal 420, and inputs the input form displayed on the mobile terminal 420 into the mobile terminal 420 using a keypad or the like. Information acquired other than these images, sounds, and information directly input by the data collector includes information acquired by built-in sensors such as the acceleration sensor, geomagnetic sensor, and GPS (Global Positioning System) unit of the mobile terminal 420, as well as information acquired by an external sensor. In addition to being acquired intentionally by the data collector, the information may also be acquired automatically by the data collection software. For example, location information may be obtained automatically using a GPS unit in the mobile terminal 420.

An example of the hardware configuration of the mobile terminal 420 includes the above-mentioned arithmetic device, the above-mentioned memory, the above-mentioned storage device, and the above-mentioned communication device. As means for acquiring data, for example, an acceleration sensor, a gyro sensor, a geomagnetic sensor, a camera, a microphone, and a GPS unit are provided. As a user interface, an input device for accepting input and an output device are provided. A program for realizing the functions required for the mobile terminal 420 of this embodiment is stored in the storage device.

The hardware configuration of the data management device 410 is the same as that of the information processing device 100 described above, and therefore will not be described here. As described below, the data management device 410 may be realized using virtual hardware functions. A program that realizes the functions required for the data management device 410 of this embodiment is stored in the storage device of the data management device 410.

Figure 2 shows an example of a data table held by management database 120. Management database 120 is a database that manages information on descriptions of software that has already been created, parameters entered to create the software (such as collected components and collected items implemented in the software), and software usage history. Management database 120 stores a software information table 510, a software usage history table 520, a component information table 530, and a component usage history table 540.

The software information table 510 is a collection of records that use a software ID 511, which is a unique identifier for the software, as a key to associate the following values: software name 512, which indicates the name of the software in question; software description 513, which indicates a description of the software in question; search term 514, which will be described later; and creator 515, who created the software in question. Software ID 511 and software name 512 are required values.

The software usage history table 520 is a collection of records that use a software usage history ID 521, which is a unique identifier for the software usage history, as a key to associate the following values: number of data 522 indicating the number of collected data for the software; number of software users 523 indicating the number of users of the software; last update date 524 indicating the date the software was last updated; latest data collection date 525 indicating the date on which the most recent data was collected for the software; data collector evaluation 526 given by the data collector who collected the data for the software; and data analyst evaluation 527 given by the data analyst who analyzed the collected data for the software. The software usage history ID 521 and last update date 524 are required values.

The component information table 530 is a collection of records that use a component ID 531, which is a unique identifier for a component, as a key to associate the following values: a component name 532 indicating the name of the corresponding component, a component description 533 indicating a description of the corresponding component, a search term 534 described below, and a creator 535 who created the corresponding component. The component ID 531 and component name 532 are required values.

The component usage history table 540 is a collection of records that use a component usage history ID 541, which is a unique identifier for the component usage history, as a key, and associates the following values with each other: software usage count 542, which indicates the number of software programs in which the component is used; last update date 543, which indicates the date the component was last updated; latest data collection date 544, which indicates the date on which the most recent data was collected for the component; data collector evaluation 545 given by the data collector who collected the data for the component; and data analyst evaluation 546 given by the analyst who analyzed the collected data for the component. The component usage history ID 541 and last update date 543 are required values.

The procedure for implementing the software creation support and management method in this embodiment will be described below. The various operations corresponding to the software creation support and management method described below are realized by a program that the information processing device 100 reads into a memory or the like and executes. This program is composed of code for implementing the various operations described below.

Figure 3 is an example of a software registration screen used to register software information. The software registration screen is used to register attribute information of software that has already been developed, and is displayed on the terminal 200. The registration screen in Figure 3 is displayed by performing a specified operation on the terminal 200. The attributes of the software include the components that the software has and attribute information of those components. The registration screen may be provided by the information processing device 100, or may be provided by an application on the terminal 200.

The software basic information input area 610 is an area for inputting basic attribute parameters of the software, such as "software name," "software description," and "creator name/department."

The component basic information input area 611 is an area for selecting and inputting the "Component Name", "Component Description", and "Component Type". The component setting area 612 is an area for inputting display statements, field names for collected data, and settings for collection according to the type of component. The component information area 613 is a collection of the component basic information input area 611 and the component setting area 612 for each component. When the component addition button 614 is pressed, one component information area 613 is added. When the component deletion button 615 is pressed, one component information area 613 is deleted. When the registration start button 616 is pressed, the terminal 200 transmits the input information to the management database 120. In FIG. 3, the component information area 613 for each of the three components is illustrated. In FIG. 3, there are multiple component basic information input areas 611, component setting areas 612, and component information areas 613, so they are distinguished by the suffixes a to c.

The component type selection box 620 is a box for specifying the type of component to be used. Selectable component types include, for example, a text box component (represented as text in the figure) that allows the user to input text, an option component (represented as option in the figure) that allows the user to select from multiple options, and an audio component (represented as audio in the figure) that allows the user to record audio using a microphone. By selecting any desired type from the component type selection box 620, a component setting area 612 corresponding to the selected type is displayed.

The first component information area 613a is an example of the display when "Text" is selected as the component type. The first component setting area 612a is provided with a field name input area 621 for inputting the field name when storing in the database, and a display statement input area 622 that guides the user to enter the content into the text box. In the illustrated example, the text component presents a display statement that prompts the user to enter the model ID, and the collected result is stored as the field name MachineID.

The second component information area 613b is an example of the display when "Choice" is selected as the component type. The second component setting information area 612b is provided with a field name input area for inputting the field name when storing in the database, an answer input area 623 for setting the options to be presented to the user, an answer add button 624 for adding the answer input area 623, and an answer delete button 625 for deleting the answer input area 623. In the example shown, the option component presents a display statement prompting the user to select a part, and the user selects from options such as pump or engine, and the collected results are stored as a field named Component.

The third component information area 613c is an example of the display when "audio" is selected as the component type. The third component setting information area 612c includes a sampling rate input area 627 for setting the sampling rate when recording with a microphone, and a condition input area 628 for inputting recording conditions to be presented to the user. In the example shown, the audio component prompts the user to record at a sampling rate of 44.1 kHz, at a location 1 m away from the target.

These components are components that were created in the past and can be created by the creation device 300, which will be described later. The component setting information area may be changed for each component to which it is applied. For example, even with the same component that collects audio, in addition to prompting the user to go to a location 1 m away, a component may actually use an acceleration sensor or camera to determine whether the user is 1 m away from an object, and only enable recording in that case. These are treated as separate components, and therefore as separate types in the component type selection box 620.

When the registrant enters information in the software basic information input area 610 and component information area 613 on the screen in FIG. 3 and presses the start registration button 616, the management device 140 starts registering information. Instead of the registrant manually entering information, a setting file reading area may be provided and the information may be automatically entered by reading a setting information file that describes the software information. The setting file may be in any format, such as JSON or CSV.

Figure 4 is a flowchart showing the procedure for the management device 140 to register software information. When the display/input device 110 accepts the parameters input by the user using the screen in Figure 3, the management device 140 starts this flowchart.

The management device 140 first retrieves the input parameters (S101). The search device 150 checks for each component (S102) whether it is an existing component already registered in the management database 120 (S103). If it is not an existing component, a component ID is assigned (S104) and the component is registered in the component information table 530 of the management database 120 (S105). If items other than the required items are not entered in the component information table 530, NULL is set as the initial value. In the case of an existing component, S104 to S105 are not performed. The above operations of S102 to S105 are repeated for each component.

After processing for each component is completed (S106), the search device 150 checks whether the software is existing and has already been registered in the management database 120 (S107). If it is not existing software, a software ID is assigned (S108) and the software is registered in the software information table 510 of the management database 120 (S109). If items other than the required items have not been entered in the software information table 510, NULL is set as the initial value. If it is existing software, S108 to S109 are not performed.

Through the above process, attribute information for each component and software is set in the software information table 510 and component information table 530 of the management database 120 based on the parameters entered by the user using the screen in Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a flowchart showing the procedure by which the management device 140 creates and registers a search index. In this process, similar to the registration process in Figure 4, the display/input device 110 accepts parameters entered by the user using the screen in Figure 3, the management device 140 reads the parameters, extracts search keywords from the parameters, and registers them as search terms 514 or 534 in the management database 120.

The management device 140 receives parameters from the display/input device 110 (S201) and performs the following for each component (S202). First, the format of the imported file and the language characteristics of the written file are understood (S203). In the case of Japanese, keywords are extracted by dividing the file into phrases according to the characteristics of Japanese. Then, particles and auxiliary verbs are separated and only characteristic keywords are extracted (S204). A list of characteristic words may be prepared in advance and extracted with a focus on them. For example, for software that collects data at a construction site, words related to expected conditions such as cold regions and normal regions, and words related to parts of machines such as engines and pumps are considered as candidates for characteristic words. A model that extracts characteristic words in advance may be created. TF-IDF may be used as an example of a statistic for constructing a model. This is an index in which words that are used frequently in a sentence but are not used often in other sentences have a large value. This index is based on the assumption that "words that appear frequently in a sentence are important words." The characteristic words of the software may be calculated by learning and modeling the information on the category to which the software belongs, the software name, and the frequency of occurrence of nouns (words or character strings) included in the description. Software that achieves the same purpose is considered to belong to the same category, and similarly, if software achieves the same purpose, it is assumed that the frequency of occurrence of keywords that express the characteristics of the software tends to be similar in the software name and description. The management device 140 registers the extracted keywords as search terms in the component information table 530 (S205).

After the processing for each component is completed (S206), the parameters as a whole are used to understand the language characteristics of the parameters related to the software (S207), characteristic words of the software are extracted (S208), and the extracted keywords are registered as search terms in the software information table 510 (S209). The method for extracting characteristic words is the same as the method for extracting characteristic words of components.

Through the above process, the search keywords for each component and software extracted from the parameters entered by the user using the screen in FIG. 3 are set as search indexes (search terms 514 and 534) in the software information table 510 and component information table 530 in the management database 120. This enables searches using characteristic words, making searches more effective.

The extracted feature words will vary depending on what the user inputs on the screen in Figure 3. In order to extract appropriate feature words, it is desirable to specify the input method on the screen in Figure 3. For example, in addition to setting required items, a minimum number of characters may be set and the number of characters must be greater than this limit. Furthermore, using the above-mentioned feature word extraction process, it is possible to display in real time what feature words will be registered from the information on the relevant app or component, or to search for similar registered information in the past using the search process described below and present it as reference information.

The user must select the appropriate information to be entered so that the appropriate feature words are registered. For example, when registering an app that collects engine operating sounds to diagnose engine abnormalities, it is desirable to select the input content so that the purpose of the app is clear, such as "App name" being "Engine operating sound collection app" and "App description" being "For engine abnormality diagnosis using operating sounds." When registering a component that constitutes the app that collects engine operating sounds, it is desirable to select the input content so that the information on the component's collection target is clear, such as "Component name" being "Engine operating sound collection" and "Component description" being "For collecting engine operating sounds." In the display example of FIG. 3, it is effective to enter words related to expected conditions such as cold regions and normal regions, or words related to machine parts such as engines and pumps in "Name" or "Description" in order to extract appropriate feature words.

Figure 6 is an example of a usage history registration screen used to register software usage history. The usage history registration screen is a screen used to register usage history of software that has already been developed, and is displayed on terminal 200. The screen in Figure 6 is displayed by performing a specified operation on terminal 200.

The collection condition input area 630 is an area where the collection method is selected from manual input/automatic input, the collection target is selected from software/components, and the corresponding ID is selected. The miscellaneous information input area 631 is an area where the user inputs API (Application Program Interface) settings according to the selected registration method. The storage information input area 632 is an area where the registration format of the collected usage history is set, and the start registration button 633 is a button that starts registering the usage history.

The collection method selection box 634 is a box for selecting the method of collecting results to be used. Selectable collection methods include, for example, (a) a "manual input" method in which the user inputs usage results as text via the stored information input area 632, and (b) an "automatic" method in which usage results such as the last update date of the software and the most recent data collection date of the software are obtained using an API that is generally provided in advance in various software to realize predetermined processing. By selecting the automatic type from the collection method selection box 634, the various information input area 631 is displayed.

When the registrant enters information in the collection condition input area 630, miscellaneous information input area 631, and storage information input area 632 on the screen in FIG. 6 and presses the registration start button 633, the performance collection device 130 starts the information collection process. As in FIG. 3, the information may be entered automatically using a setting file. When the creation device 300, which will be described later, performs the registration process, each piece of information is entered automatically from the creation device 300, without going through the terminal 200, and a registration instruction is issued.

Details about the miscellaneous information input area 631 and the storage information input area 632 will be explained using specific examples later.

The performance collection device 130 first takes in the input parameters. The performance collection device 130 collects the collection items according to the specified method, and registers them in the software usage performance table 520 or component usage performance table 540 of the management database 120 via the management device 140 as usage performance of the target software or component. For items that could not be collected, NULL is set as the initial value.

A method for collecting usage records by "manual input" is explained in detail below. The user inputs information for each item in the storage information input area 632, and the performance record collecting device 130 acquires the input values as usage records. The performance record collecting device 130 stores each item in a table based on the collection condition input area 630 and the storage information input area 632.

Details of the miscellaneous information input area 631 and the stored information input area 632 will be explained using an example in which usage history is collected "automatically." The registrant inputs the program used to collect usage history into the automatic collection setting of the miscellaneous information input area 631. The "Executed Program" field in FIG. 6 is an example of the source code. This example collects usage history by HTTP request to the collection target software. Therefore, it is necessary to input the request type of the HTTP request (GET or POST), the request destination URL, and the request parameters (key and value pair). In the stored information input area 632, variables in the source code are specified as data items to be stored in the management database 120. In the example of FIG. 6, it is specified that the value of the variable dataNumber in the source code is stored for the number of data 522.

As a result, usage history for software and components is collected and stored in the management database 120.

The above describes an example of executing the registration process by pressing the registration start button 616 and the registration start button 633 using the screens in Figures 3 and 6, respectively. However, when the creation device 300, which will be described later, executes the registration process, the registration process is executed automatically for the input parameters. In particular, in this embodiment, the above-mentioned automatic registration is executed automatically in conjunction with the creation device 300.

Figure 7 is an example of a creation instruction screen on which the user instructs the software creation support system 1 to create software. The creation instruction screen has the registration start button 616 in Figure 3 replaced with a creation start button 642 (a button that instructs the user to start creation), and the other screen configuration is the same as in Figure 3. When the user enters information in the software basic information input area 640 and component information input area 641 on the screen in Figure 7 and presses the creation start button 642, the information processing device 100 starts the creation support process.

Figure 8 is a sequence diagram showing the procedure for supporting software creation. A user who is creating new data collection software will input the requirements for the new system to be built via terminal 200. It is assumed that attribute information for software that has already been developed has already been registered in management database 120.

The user inputs attribute information parameters for the software to be created using the screen of FIG. 7 (S302). The display/input device 110 accepts the parameters (S302), and the search device 150 receives the parameters. The search device 150 searches for similar software or components created in the past by performing a search process (described later) on the management database 120 based on the parameters contained in the accepted parameter file (S303). If similar software or components from the past are found as a result of this search (S304: Y), the search device 150 extracts the software or components using usage records (described later) (S305) and returns the results to the terminal 200. The terminal 200 displays the results (S306). This allows the user to be presented with past software and components similar to the software to be created.

If the search in S303 does not find any similar past software or components (S304: N), the search device 150 returns a flag indicating that no similar software or components were found to the terminal 200 (S307), and ends the process.

On the terminal 200, the user can recognize the software or components identified by the search in FIG. 8, and select the software or component from the displayed search results. The parameters entered when the selected software or component was created are automatically entered into the screen in FIG. 7. This makes it possible to create new software by referring to proven software or components from similar software or components from the past.

Figure 9 is a flowchart explaining the search process by the search device 150. The search device 150 accepts parameters from the display/input device 110 (S401) and performs the following process for each component (S402). The search device 150 grasps the language characteristics of the imported parameters (S403). In the case of Japanese, the parameters are divided into phrases according to the characteristics of Japanese, and keywords (characteristic words) are extracted. Then, particles and auxiliary verbs are separated, and only characteristic keywords are extracted (S404). The search device 150 performs a search by searching for search terms registered in advance in the component information table 530 of the management database 120 using the extracted characteristic words (S405). In this search, search terms registered in the management database 120 that match the characteristic words extracted by the search device 150 are extracted. The search device 150 calculates a priority according to the usage history stored in the component usage history table 540, and ranks the components according to the priority. Based on the result, the components are rearranged and extracted (S406). Details of the priority will be described later. After the processing for each component is completed (S407), the entire parameters are used to grasp the language characteristics of the software attribute information (S408), and characteristic words of the software attribute information are extracted (S409). The search device 150 performs a search using search terms registered in the software information table 510 (S410). The search device 150 calculates the priority according to the usage history stored in the software usage history table 520, ranks and rearranges the software based on the result, and extracts the results (S411).

In terms of usage history, for example, the more data items 522 or the more software users 523 there are, the better the software's performance can be considered to be. The same is true for the number of software uses 542. An appropriate evaluation function that combines these evaluation items for evaluation may be used.

In the search process (S405), in addition to identifying common search terms, similar search terms may be identified using the similarity between search terms. In this case, one example of an index of similarity is cosine similarity. Cosine similarity is calculated based on how many words are common between texts, since it is believed that when texts are similar, the same words will appear in each text with a similar probability. Alternatively, similarity may be calculated using a method of vectorizing constructed words based on the assumption that words with similar meanings are similar in the words that appear around them.

Details about the priority are provided below. The priority is an index used to display software or components that have a history of use and can be evaluated as effective with a higher priority. In this embodiment, the priority is determined from two perspectives. The first is "priority determination based on the data analyst" and the second is "priority determination based on the data collector".

In "priority determination based on data analysts," the data analyst's evaluation takes precedence. For example, if the data analyst evaluates software A as a "4" and software B as a "2," software A will have a higher priority. If there is no data analyst evaluation or the evaluations are the same, software with a larger amount of data is more desirable from the data analyst's perspective because more data is available for analysis, and so it will have a higher priority.

In "priority determination based on data collector", the data collector's evaluation takes precedence. For example, if the data collector's evaluations of software A and software B are "4" and "2", respectively, software A will have a higher priority. If there are no evaluations from the data collector or the evaluations are the same, software with a larger amount of data is preferable because, from the data collector's point of view, it is software that has been used more often and it can be inferred that data collection work is not cumbersome, so it has a higher priority. Regarding component priority, components with shorter data collection times are preferable because data collection work is easier, and so have a higher priority.

The search device 150 calculates the priority based on these two viewpoints. For example, 1000 or more data items are evaluated as 5, 1000-500 as 4, 500-100 as 2, 100-10 as 1, and 10 or less as 0, and the evaluation is performed as follows: priority = data collector's evaluation + data analyst's evaluation + number of data items. These calculation formulas and point distributions may be changed depending on the system to be applied. The priority may be calculated by any appropriate method. This method of calculating the priority is merely one example. The priority value is higher for items with a history of use, so the search results are displayed so that software and components with a history of use are given higher priority. The number of software and components to be displayed may be determined in advance, or only software and components with a certain or higher priority may be displayed.

As a result, when users search for software or components, they can be presented with software or components that have a longer history of use, encouraging more efficient reuse of software and components.

The terminal 200 displays the software and component information sent from the information processing device 100 by the above-mentioned search process as a software and component list on a specified GUI. The terminal 200 accepts instructions from the user as to which software and component information from this list to refer to. The parameters entered when creating the software and components selected by the user are automatically entered into the screen of FIG. 7.

This series of processes makes it possible to create new software by referring to proven software and components from similar software and components from the past.

Figure 10 is a sequence diagram showing another procedure for supporting software creation. A user who is building new data collection software will input the requirements for the new system to be built via terminal 200. It is assumed that attribute information for software that has already been developed has already been registered in management database 120.

The user inputs the setting information using the screen of FIG. 7 (S501), and the display/input device 110 accepts the setting information (S502). The search device 150 receives parameters from the display/input device 110, and searches for similar software or components created in the past by performing a search process described later on the management database 120 based on the accepted parameters (S503). If similar software or components are found in the past as a result of the search (S504: Y), attribute information of the software identified by the search is returned to the display/input device 110 (S505). Along with this reply, the user is asked, "Similar software has been created in the past, but do you still want to create it?" The terminal 200 accepts a final instruction from the user as to whether or not to deploy (S506). If the user then decides to deploy and inputs that instruction into the terminal 200 (S507: Y), the terminal 200 receives an instruction to execute the deployment and notifies the execution device 160 of this (S508). If the user decides not to deploy and inputs that instruction into the terminal 200 (S507: N), no deployment instruction is issued and the process ends.

If the search in S503 does not find any similar software or components from the past (S504: N), an instruction to execute the deployment is received and notified to the execution device 160 (S508). Upon receiving this notification, the execution device 160 executes the deployment of the software specified by the terminal 200 via the creation device 300 by the process described below (S508).

By referencing similar software from the past that meets the requirements, it is possible to prevent the proliferation of similar software and to allow only meaningful software to be created.

Figure 11 shows an example of a management screen displayed on terminal 200. As shown in Figure 11, the management screen displays a display target selection box 650 in which the user selects a display target, a display target category selection box 651 in which the user selects a display target from pre-prepared candidates, a search box 652 in which the user inputs search conditions and keywords, and a display section 653.

The display section 653 of the management screen displays a list of software or components registered in the management database 120 based on the display conditions entered in the display target selection box 650, the display target category selection box 651, and the search box 652, which will be described later. The user selects software or a component from the displayed list and displays detailed information about the selected software or component.

In the display target selection box 650, the user selects either software (apps) or components as the display target. In the display target category selection box 651, the user selects the category of the display target from a list of category candidates prepared in advance. The display/input device 110 accepts the keyword selected in the display target category selection box 651 and passes it to the search device 150. The search device 150 performs the above-mentioned search process based on the accepted keyword, searches for similar software or components created in the past, and displays the search results on the display unit 653. The display target category selection box 651 is not limited to the form of selecting an option as shown in the figure. For example, if you want to display software related to a certain part of a machine, you can prepare an image for each part (such as the front part, rear part, or chassis of the vehicle) and display a silhouette corresponding to the part, so that clicking on one of them will display the related software.

The search box 652 is a box into which the user himself/herself inputs any keyword. Specifically, in this manual input box, the user inputs any keyword from a keyboard or the like, and the input keyword is accepted by the display/input device 110 and passed to the search device 150. The search device 150 performs the above-mentioned search process based on the accepted keyword, searches for similar software or components created in the past, and displays the search results on the display unit 653 and presents them to the user.

This series of operations allows the user to easily find useful software among multiple created software programs, so the information processing device 100 can support the user when creating software.

The procedure for implementing the software creation method in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 12. The various operations corresponding to the software creation method described below are realized by a program that the creation device 300 reads into a memory or the like and executes. This program is composed of code for performing the various operations described below.

Figure 12 is a flowchart showing the procedure by which the creation device 300 creates software. If the user cannot find any software and components with the functions he or she desires among the past software and components, the creation device 300 creates new software that meets the user's desire. Here, an example of creating a data lake creation program and data management software will be described. The data lake creation program is a program that displays data collection contents on the mobile terminal 420 based on settings input from the terminal 200, generates data collection software for accepting the collection results, provides the data collection software to the mobile terminal 420 via the network 10, and receives and stores the collection results from the mobile terminal 420 via the network 10. The data management software is software that extracts data from the data lake and provides it to the user as appropriate.

Specifically, the software in this flowchart can be created by using a template engine that takes a template and parameters as input and replaces variables in the template based on the parameters, creating various source codes from pre-prepared templates that reflect the parameters entered by the user.

A user who has a specific data collection objective and wishes to create data collection software that meets those requirements operates the terminal 200, accesses the information processing device 100, and starts the creation process.

First, the display/input device 110 accepts a request that meets the above requirements via an appropriate interface. The user inputs attribute information parameters for the software to be created using the screen in FIG. 7. The terminal 200 transmits the parameters to the creation device 300. It is assumed that the display/input device 110 mediates the exchange of information between the terminal 200 and the creation device 300, but for the sake of simplicity, the mediation process of the display/input device 110 will be omitted from the following explanation (same below).

The creation device 300 receives parameters from the display/input device 110 (S601). The creation device 300 selects a template for the data collection software from the template database 310 based on the received parameters (S602), and generates source code for the data collection software by replacing a specific argument in the template with the received parameters (S603). When the source code for the data collection software is complete, if the source code is written in a language that requires compilation, the source code for the data collection software is compiled.

The creation device 300 provides the data collection software to the mobile terminal 420 (S604). For example, the data collection software can be made public on the network 10 so that it can be downloaded to the mobile terminal 420. Alternatively, parameters can be sent to software present on the mobile terminal 420 in an appropriate format such as JSON format, and the software can read the parameters to create the data collection software. This technology can be realized using publicly known technology such as ReactNative, which has recently enabled smartphone software development using Javascript.

The data collection software holds parameters for accessing the data lake, so it can send collected data to the data lake. This access information may be entered by the user, or it may be sent automatically to the data collection software when the data lake generation program or data management software is generated.

The data collection software includes basic components by default, in addition to the components that are changed based on the parameters entered by the user. For example, the function of storing data based on access information to the data lake is not defined on the screen of FIG. 7, because the access information is included in the source code of the data collection software. Thus, the description of functions that are realized in advance will be omitted. In addition to the basic functions, the data collection software also has a function of storing collected data when the mobile terminal 420 is not connected to the network 10, i.e., offline, and transmitting the stored data to the data lake when the mobile terminal 420 connects to the network 10, i.e., goes online. As a result, even at a construction site where offline is basically expected, data can be transmitted to the data lake when the mobile terminal 420 goes from offline to online as it moves, making it possible to collect data effectively.

The creation device 300 generates source code for the data lake generation program by replacing a specific argument in the source code template of the data lake generation program with the received parameters (S605). Then, when the source code of the data lake generation program is completed, if the source code is written in a language that requires compilation, the creation device 300 compiles the source code of the data lake generation program. The creation device 300 transmits the data lake generation program to the data management device 410 via the network 10 (S606). The creation device 300 instructs the data management device 410 to execute the data lake generation program (S607). The data management device 410 creates a data lake including a database by executing the received data lake generation program.

The data tables in the database created here have a data structure that corresponds to the data items collected by the data collection software. However, since unstructured data such as audio and images are difficult to manage in a database, they are stored in the data tables in the Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) format that indicates the storage location of the unstructured data, and the unstructured data is stored in a specified storage location. In this way, a data lake that stores structured data and unstructured data is created. When storing data collected by the mobile terminal 420, the data management device 410 accesses the data lake based on the data lake access information and stores the collected data in the relevant data lake.

The creating device 300 replaces the specified arguments in the template for the data management software with the parameters in the parameter file to generate source code for the data management software (S608). Then, when the source code for the data management software is completed, if the source code is written in a language that requires compilation, the creating device 300 compiles the source code of the data management software. The creating device 300 transmits the data management software to the data management device 410 via the network 10 (S609). The creating device 300 instructs the data management device 410 to deploy the data management software (S610). The data management device 410 deploys the received data management software.

The data management software holds the parameters for accessing the data lake, so it can read data from the data lake and present it to the user. This allows the user to check and download the data through the data management software. For example, if the data is written in CSV format, the downloaded data can be easily compiled and graphed by loading it into a spreadsheet program, enabling various analyses.

In order to link with the analysis environment, the data management software may have a function to download each data used in the analysis, as well as a linking function to issue a code to read selected data in the analysis environment. This allows the analyst to immediately perform data analysis using the linking function with the analysis environment. This function can be realized, for example, by a well-known technique called GraphQL. GraphQL makes it possible to utilize data without changing the existing data storage method by using a schema that defines data types including data relationships, and a resolver that defines how to access data for each data type based on the schema.

The data management device 410 on which the data lake and data management software are prepared may use virtualized software functions, platform functions, and hardware functions in addition to physically prepared servers. For example, it is possible to use container technology, which has been widely used in recent years, that can package (containerize) software with its execution environment, such as a file system and dependent libraries. Specifically, when using Docker, a container execution and management tool of Open Source Software (OSS) developed mainly by Docker Inc., it is possible to create a container image from a Dockerfile script, and it is possible to build, deploy, and execute the container image (software). By using this, it is possible to execute a data lake generation program when building a container, generate a data lake, and simultaneously build, deploy, and execute the data management software. In addition, in the case of Docker, the above-mentioned processing can be instructed to Docker using WebAPI, which is an interface for calling a remote function over a network.

This allows users to create systems for collecting data without needing programming knowledge.

<Embodiment 1: Summary>
According to the software creation support system 1 of the first embodiment, the user does not need to have advanced knowledge, and by displaying software that has a proven track record among similar software created in the past, the user can easily find effective software among the software created in the past. This allows the information processing device 100 to support the user when creating software.

When existing software (or components) having the attributes desired by the user cannot be found, the software creation support system 1 according to the first embodiment creates new software by replacing variables in a source code template according to attribute information specified by the user. This makes it possible to create software that meets the user's request even if there is no valid software among previously created software. For example, even if the basic parts of the software, such as an algorithm, meet the user's request, the desired software may not be found in a search because the attribute information does not match the user's request. Even with such software, software that meets the user's request can be created by using existing source code and replacing parameters with attribute information specified by the user.

<Embodiment 2>
In the first embodiment, the creation device 300 creates software. In the second embodiment of the present invention, a configuration example is described in which software is created using a software creation service provided by an external business operator, without using the creation device 300. The following mainly describes the differences from the first embodiment.

Figure 13 is a configuration diagram of a software creation support system 1 according to the second embodiment. An information processing device 100 is communicably connected to a terminal 200 and a software provision system 770 via an appropriate network 10. Compared to the first embodiment, the creation device 300 has been changed to the software provision system 770.

The software provision system 770 is a service that provides the data collection system 400 based on settings entered by the user through a screen provided by the provider. This form of provision is intended to provide the user with various resources, such as the hardware or software of the data collection system 400, as a service. The detailed specifications of such services are not necessarily made public to the user, and the specifications of the service may be changed without disclosure. Therefore, when providing the above-mentioned creation support and management for such services, the input screen corresponding to the screen in Figure 7 in the software provision system 770 is changed to one provided by the service provider. One example of a well-known service of the software provision system 770 is Mobile Form Builder provided by Teamscope.

The information processing device 100 will be described below with respect to the major differences from the first embodiment. The biggest difference is that the input screen corresponding to the screen of FIG. 7 in the software provision system 770 is changed. Therefore, in the information processing device 100 of the second embodiment, the screen of the software provision system 770 is displayed on the terminal 200 via the display/input device 110. The contents input by the terminal 200 are reflected on the screen of the software provision system 770 via the display/input device 110. The management device 140 acquires the user's input from the output screen via the display/input device 110 and registers it as software information in the management database 120. The registration process, creation support, and management are the same as those of the first embodiment. In addition, by appropriately changing the items on the input screen corresponding to the screen of FIG. 7 according to the screen of the software provision system 770, the information processing device 100 can support the user in creating software in the same way as in the first embodiment.

According to the second embodiment, by displaying settings for software that has been used successfully among similar software created in the past for existing software provision services, it is possible to find effective software among multiple software with little effort.

<Third embodiment>
In the first and second embodiments, configuration examples have been described in which software is created by the creation device 300 or the external software providing system 770. In the third embodiment of the present invention, a configuration example specialized only for software management will be described. The following description will focus on the differences from the first and second embodiments.

Figure 14 is a configuration diagram of a software creation support system 1 according to the third embodiment. An information processing device 100 is communicably connected to a terminal 200 via an appropriate network 10. Compared to the first embodiment, the creation device 300 and execution device 160 have been deleted.

In this embodiment, software attribute information and software usage history are registered in the management database 120 only via the software registration screen and the history collection screen. In this embodiment, registered software is managed by searching for the software. The software registration screen is flexibly changed depending on the software to be registered.

According to this embodiment, it is possible to manage systems created by means other than the creation device 300 or the software provision system 770. For example, according to this embodiment, it is possible to manage software created by a programmer himself.

<Modifications of the present invention>
The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and includes various modified examples. For example, the above-described embodiment has been described in detail to clearly explain the present invention, and is not necessarily limited to those having all of the configurations described. In addition, it is possible to replace a part of the configuration of one embodiment with the configuration of another embodiment, and it is also possible to add the configuration of another embodiment to the configuration of one embodiment. In addition, it is possible to add, delete, or replace a part of the configuration of each embodiment with another configuration.

1 Software creation support system 10 Network 100 Information processing device 110 Display/input device 120 Management database 130 Performance collection device 140 Management device 150 Search device 160 Execution device 200 Terminal 300 Creation device 310 Template database 400 Data collection system 410 Data management device 420 Portable terminal 510 Software information table 520 Software usage performance table 530 Component information table 540 Component usage performance table

Claims (11)

An information processing device that supports creation of software for use by a user,
a storage device for storing software identification information for identifying software created in the past; and a computing device for searching for the software identification information stored in the storage device.
Equipped with
the storage device stores the software identification information, software attribute information representing attributes of the software, and a usage record of the software in association with each other;
The computing device includes:
receiving a request for desired software desired by the user together with desired software attribute information representing attributes of the desired software;
searching the storage device for software attribute information that matches the desired software attribute information;
outputting the software identification information obtained by the search together with the usage record associated with the software identification information as a response to the request ;
the information processing device further comprises a registration interface for a user to input a registration request for storing the software identification information and the software attribute information in the storage device in association with each other;
The computing device includes:
extracting a first characteristic word that can be used as a search keyword from the software attribute information inputted in the registration interface;
The extracted first characteristic word is stored in the storage device as the software attribute information or together with the software attribute information.
23. An information processing apparatus comprising: An information processing device that supports creation of software for use by a user,
a storage device for storing software identification information for identifying software created in the past; a computing device for searching for the software identification information stored in the storage device;
Equipped with
the storage device stores the software identification information, software attribute information representing attributes of the software, and a usage record of the software in association with each other;
The computing device includes:
receiving a request for desired software desired by the user together with desired software attribute information representing attributes of the desired software;
searching the storage device for software attribute information that matches the desired software attribute information;
outputting the software identification information obtained by the search together with the usage record associated with the software identification information as a response to the request ;
The software includes an API for outputting a usage record of the software,
The computing device includes:
Collecting usage records of the software via the API;
The collected usage record of the software is stored in the storage device in association with the software identification information.
23. An information processing apparatus comprising: An information processing device that supports creation of software for use by a user,
a storage device for storing software identification information for identifying software created in the past; and a computing device for searching for the software identification information stored in the storage device.
Equipped with
the storage device stores the software identification information, software attribute information representing attributes of the software, and a usage record of the software in association with each other;
The computing device includes:
receiving a request for desired software desired by the user together with desired software attribute information representing attributes of the desired software;
searching the storage device for software attribute information that matches the desired software attribute information;
outputting the software identification information obtained by the search together with the usage record associated with the software identification information as a response to the request ;
the software is a data collection program that implements a process for collecting data;
the storage device stores a data collector evaluation value representing a result of evaluation of the software by a data collector who performs an operation of collecting the data, and a data analyst evaluation value representing a result of evaluation of the software by a data analyst who performs an operation of analyzing the data, in association with the software identification information;
When a plurality of pieces of software identification information are obtained by the search, the arithmetic device sorts the pieces of software identification information obtained by the search in accordance with a priority based on the data collector evaluation value and the data analyst evaluation value, and outputs the sorted pieces of software identification information as the response.
23. An information processing apparatus comprising: An information processing device that supports creation of software for use by a user,
a storage device for storing software identification information for identifying software created in the past; and a computing device for searching for the software identification information stored in the storage device.
Equipped with
the storage device stores the software identification information, software attribute information representing attributes of the software, and a usage record of the software in association with each other;
The computing device includes:
receiving a request for desired software desired by the user together with desired software attribute information representing attributes of the desired software;
searching the storage device for software attribute information that matches the desired software attribute information;
outputting the software identification information obtained by the search together with the usage record associated with the software identification information as a response to the request ;
the storage device stores component identification information for identifying components constituting the software, component attribute information representing attributes of the components, and usage records of the components in association with the software identification information;
The computing device includes:
receiving, as the desired software attribute information, desired component attribute information representing attributes of components constituting the desired software;
retrieving the component attribute information that matches the desired component attribute information from the storage device;
outputting the component identification information obtained by the search together with the usage record associated with the component identification information as a response to the request;
The component is a data collection component that implements a process for collecting data,
the storage device stores, in association with the software identification information, a data collector evaluation value representing a result of evaluation of the component by a data collector who performs an operation of collecting the data, and a data analyst evaluation value representing a result of evaluation of the component by a data analyst who performs an operation of analyzing the data;
when a plurality of pieces of component identification information are obtained by the search, the calculation device sorts the pieces of component identification information obtained by the search in accordance with a priority based on the data collector evaluation value and the data analyst evaluation value, and outputs the sorted pieces of component identification information as the response;
The data collector evaluation value is configured such that the shorter the time interval at which the component collects the data, the higher the evaluation value.
23. An information processing apparatus comprising: the storage device stores component identification information for identifying components constituting the software, component attribute information representing attributes of the components, and usage records of the components in association with the software identification information;
The computing device includes:
receiving, as the desired software attribute information, desired component attribute information representing attributes of components constituting the desired software;
retrieving the component attribute information that matches the desired component attribute information from the storage device;
4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: an information processing device that outputs the component identification information obtained by the search together with the usage record associated with the component identification information as a response to the request. The computing device includes:
extracting a second characteristic word that can be used as a search keyword from the desired software attribute information received together with the request;
2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: searching said storage device for said first characteristic word that matches said extracted second characteristic word, thereby searching said storage device for said software attribute information that matches said desired software attribute information. 5. The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein, when a plurality of pieces of software identification information are obtained by the search, the computing device sorts the pieces of software identification information obtained by the search in order of the most frequent usage history associated with the software identification information, and outputs the sorted pieces of software identification information as the response. 4. The information processing device according to claim 3, wherein when the data collector evaluation value and the data analyst evaluation value are the same, the calculation device sorts the software identification information in descending order of usage history and outputs the sorted software identification information as the response. A software creation support system that supports a user in creating software to be used, comprising:
An information processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 8 .
a creating device for creating said software;
Equipped with
The software creation device creates software for use by a user by combining the software searched for by the information processing device. A software creation support system that supports a user in creating software to be used, comprising:
an information processing device that supports the creation of software used by a user ;
a creating device for creating said software;
Equipped with
The information processing device includes:
a storage device for storing software identification information for identifying software created in the past;
a computing device for retrieving the software identification information stored in the storage device;
Equipped with
the storage device stores the software identification information, software attribute information representing attributes of the software, and a usage record of the software in association with each other;
The computing device includes:
receiving a request for desired software desired by the user together with desired software attribute information representing attributes of the desired software;
searching the storage device for software attribute information that matches the desired software attribute information;
outputting the software identification information obtained by the search together with the usage record associated with the software identification information as a response to the request;
the creation device creates software for use by a user by combining the software searched for by the information processing device ;
The software creation support system further includes a template database storing templates of source codes of the software,
The creating device includes:
The computing device obtains, from the template database, the template corresponding to the software identification information obtained by the search;
creating the software using the acquired template;
The template includes replaceable parameters;
The creating device includes:
receiving a request to create said software along with specified values for said parameters;
creating said source code by replacing said parameters in said template with said specified values;
The software is created using the created source code.
A software creation support system comprising: The software comprises:
a data collection program that implements a process for collecting data;
a data lake creation program implementing a process for creating a data lake for storing the data collected by the data collection program;
A data management program that implements a process for managing the data stored in the data lake;
11. The software creation support system according to claim 10, characterized in that the software creation support system is at least one of the above.

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